Whither Cascade Ammunition?

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I haven't been able to contact Cascade Ammunition for a couple of days now. Phones aren't being answered but the web site is still up (Last updated on 4/28). Did they crash and burn or what? I had an order in with them and now wonder if I need to go elsewere for ammo. Anyone have another good cheap source for .223 and .22LR ammo? Thanks.

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), April 30, 1999

Answers

For .223 ammo, go to Cheaper Than Dirt.

For .22 LR, I suggest Walmart.

-- Max Dixon (mcdixon@konnections.com), April 30, 1999.


Stroll down to your local Wal-Mart and pick up a copy of Shotgun News, they usually have at least fifteen or twenty bulk ammo dealers advertising.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), April 30, 1999.

If you're in the Pacific NW, you might check out Bi-Mart. They have a sale on some sort of ammo every month.

For example, 500 round brick of .22LR "Peters" for 4.95. (That's the cheap stuff anyway). Remington "Golden bullet" high velocity hollow point .22LR for 8.49. 50 rounds of .45 Remington for 10.99.

As for .223 - go for Cheaper than Dirt - but you'll have to wait.

Jolly doesn't have any g*u*n*s.

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), April 30, 1999.


I bought from Cascade 6 weeks ago 2 week wait for the 30.06 AP and Tracer rounds. Hope they are still in business, the tracer is fun and the AP will shoot through an engine block! Try J&G Sales for cheap .223 (jgsales.com). I've bought South African .223 1,000. for about $180. Lead will be a precious metal.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), May 01, 1999.

I agree with the suggestion about checking the Shotgun News and The Gun List, but be aware that many advertisers are running ads for ammo that they don't have on-hand. Cascade is probably in the same shape as all other major ammo dealers: snowed under with requests and no stock on-hand. It's the yearly cycle of domestic ammo production companies, coupled with extremely high demand.

Rifle calibers ceased production two months ago and won't resume until summer. It's shotgun shell production time now. The amounts of rifle ammo produced up until now would meet demand in a NORMAL year, but 1999 is DEFINITELY NOT a normal year for ammo demand. Wonder why?

Plus, there have been changes by the Clinton administration which have cut-off many imports of foreign produced ammo. Places like Korea and Israel which use equipment supplied by the US for their military ammo production can't sell ammo produced on those machines to US civilians. That's why British, South African, Czech, Russian and Chinese versions of .223 and .308 are starting to show up in guns stores much more often.

Then there's a wildcard of unexpected military ammo production increases that may also cut into available production capacity. The government may make a precationary ammo purchase that will consume production capacity. If there's a full-fledged ground war in Kosovo, look for very tight to nonexistant civilian ammo supplies this fall.

How bad is it? My local dealer sold out of FMJ .223/5.56 NATO over one month ago. His stocks should have lasted until fall, but demand has been much higher than he ever expected. And he's a "10" on Y2K, stocking his inventory accordingly. Even .22 has been sucked-up by people stocking up on ammo. The situation with FMJ .308/7.62 NATO has been bad since last fall. Import restrictions have really hurt the stock of available ammo.

Personally, it took me many fruitless phone calls and dealer visits to find a dealer who was advertising something he had in stock. Most of the time an inquiry about most ads came back with a reply of "We expect it to be released by Customs any day." No such luck is my experience.

I finally found a source for surplus military .308, after six months of searching. I ended-up driving six hundred miles each way and also paying about twice what I paid the last time I made a large quantity purchase.

My advice for anyone who has not made a stock-up ammo purchase is to do so now.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), May 02, 1999.



I was at one of the local wallmarts this evening - totally wiped out of .44 mag, had almost no generic ammo in any caliber other than .22. They did have quite a selection of the high end U.S. manufactured commercial ammo, if one could afford that sort of pricey fodder for one's firearms - which I cannot.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), May 04, 1999.


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